Shapfell Quarry Pipeline, Cumbria- Survey

Corus have proposed pipelines, c 4.6km in combined length, in two sections, to provide drainage from Shapfell Quarry, Cumbria. The northern section extends from the north side of Shapfell Quarry to Trainrigg Sike in the north (NGR NY 5902 1455 to NY 5798 1562) and the southern section from the north side of Shapfell Quarry to Dalebanks Beck in the south-east (NGR NY 5902 1455 to NY 6039 1361). The pipeline to Dalebanks Beck is proposed to be routed within the existing road from Shap to Oddendale, and on a track through agricultural land on the eastern side of Oddendale, to Dalebanks Beck (Fig 1). In accordance with a verbal brief from the Assistant Archaeologist, Cumbria County Council, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertook an archaeological desk-based assessment of the entire proposed pipeline route, and a walk-over survey of the section of the proposed route from Oddendale to Dalebanks Beck.
The landscape through which the proposed pipeline is routed contains numerous prehistoric sites. Neolithic and Bronze Age activity in the area is evidenced by several monuments, including Shap Stone Avenue, stone circles at Shap, Castle Howe and Oddendale, and ring cairns on Iron Hill and at Oddendale and Hardendale Nab. Iron Age/Romano British settlement sites are located to the south-east of the study area at Crosby Ravensworth, including Ewe Close, the best preserved Romano-British native settlement in North West England. Medieval settlement of the area can be seen in the small settlements of Oddendale and Hardendale with their associated strip field systems, fossilised in the current field boundaries. In the post-medieval and modern periods, extensive limestone quarrying has taken place, resulting in a number of current and former quarries and associated features, such as limekilns, being present in the study area.